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Soviet Armed Forces
The Soviet Union maintains one of the largest and best-equipped militaries in the world, which is considered to be, if not a true equal, then at least a major threat to its rival, the United States military, in conventional warfare alone. Soviet military surplus is often purchased by other Communist states, or "donated" to revolutionaries. History If one word was to describe the formative years of the Red Army, and the Soviet Armed Forces in general, it would be "Sacrifice." During the civil war that the organization was created to fight, the army was ill-equipped but had a surplus of manpower. This resulted in an overarching doctrine that prioritized victory over the lives of the soldiers achieving it. From a strictly pragmatic standpoint this was the best strategy available at the time, but it resulted in disproportionate casualties even when victory was achieved. This was to be a grim prediction of the fortunes of the Red Army during the next great conflict that it engaged in, World War II. Further issues arose from that misguided attempt to remove all ranks from the army and make all equal. This lack of a firm chain of command resulted in additional potentially avoidable casualties, and the effort was soon abandoned. During World War II, the situation from the previous war repeated itself, though with differing causes. Though a firm chain of command had been established during the intervening years, it had been gutted by Stalin during his purges of all those seen as a threat to his power. This, combined with Stalin's refusal to allow the army to prepare for the imminent German invasion resulted in truly catastrophic losses during the first months of the war, with more than half a million soldiers captured by the Nazis. Later in the war, however, the fortunes of the Red Army changed, as Stalin allowed skill to replace sycophancy, and as the massive factories of the USSR completed their evacuation from the front lines and began to manufacture the seemingly endless tide of war material that would eventually push the Nazis back to Berlin. Though casualties were still heavy, with the USSR suffering losses that would have destroyed nearly any other power in the war, their now well equipped and well-led troops proved themselves capable of defeating even the elite of the Hexerbattalion who had in years previously destroyed all who opposed them. The Red Army exited the Eastern Front victorious, and with a refined doctrine that has served them to this day. Traumatized by the massive casualties suffered during both wars, the modern Red Army focuses on ensuring that their rank and file are the best conventionally equipped troops in the world. While their refusal to deploy Type-II or Type-III units in force still results in average casualty counts higher than those of their chief rival, their technological advantage allows them to overcome even the greatest mage in time. This doctrine has also been applied with great success to the various conflicts during the Cold War, as the weapons supplied to the undertrained but numerous revolutionaries proved both simple and effective enough to allow said revolutionaries to defeat the magically superior US-backed forces. Modern Day Today, the Red Army is on the forefront of automated force projection, deploying and utilizing a wide variety of remotely-controlled drones which are in the process of replacing their baseline infantry entirely. The Red Airforce has similarly embraced automation, and it is not uncommon to see entire wings of aircraft with only a single pilot among them. The Red Navy, by comparison, lags behind in that all but its smallest ships still require a living crew, if ones far smaller than what would be expected. The pinnacle of this push towards automation, however, can be found in the Soviet response to the Citadel Class Aerial Battleship, the Il-104, which are constantly accompanied by a defensive screen of completely autonomous drones, capable of organic response to incoming threats without input from a human operator. The Soviet Armed Forces is currently in the midst of moving away from conventional ballistic weapons entirely, but due to the experimental nature and large size of current energy weapon systems that shift has not had a significant effect on the Red Army. The Red Navy and Air Force are roughly midway through the transition, with new designs entering production and older ones being refitted to use the new weapons. The Airfleet (and the Space Vessel it operates) is on the forefront of this change and is expected to complete the transition from ballistic weapons during the coming year, retaining only a few platforms for the sake of striking targets beyond the horizon. Organization The Soviet Armed forces generally has a policy of not being reliant on wizards in warfare, as their loss in battle could easily disable Soviet magi-tec. The SAF prefers to rely on conventional technology that has been improved and made higher quality by magically-assisted manufacturing, however, and there is a limited arsenal of weapons designed and made specifically for wizard members of their armed forces. Branches of the Soviet Armed Forces consist of: Red Army The oldest branch, formed originally during the Russian civil war, the red army was once the most important branch of the armed forces, and still remains a powerful force, though it's star has waned somewhat. Due to the Soviet empire being a land based one, significant forces are kept in active duty at all times, with the goal of being both quantitatively and qualitatively superior to all neighboring rivals combined. During the past two decades the advancement of automation has resulted in approximately half of all frontline combatants being drone soldiers, though the tanks and other combat vehicles are still crewed conventionally. It is a common misconception that the majority of the drone soldiers employed by the red army are humanoid bipedal mechs. While the red army does use such models for shock troops and urban combat situations, the extreme complexity of such equipment and the resulting reliability and durability issues, to say nothing of the cost, makes them unfeasible to field in large numbers. The majority of the drone soldiers utilized by the red army are in fact small tracked or hovering platforms assigned to human handlers in groups of two, and are designed to be as modular as possible so as to simplify logistics in the field. These are however less visually impressive than a bipedal hunter-killer drone, which explains their relative absence from the public eye. Red Air Force Always considered somewhat inferior to the USAF, the red air force follows the Soviet doctrine of eschewing magitech reliance and focusing heavily on advanced technology and automation to make up the deficit. This has had mixed results in practice, as while they could always field more pilots piloting technologically advanced planes, nothing they had could in practice oppose a USAF magitech squadron. This has somewhat changed as of late, as remotely controlled drones both are more disposable due to their loss not resulting in the death of a skilled pilot, and also more maneuverable and have more flexibility in their design due to not having to make allowances for the survival of a pilot. This doctrinal shift has resulted in the average Red Air Force flights consisting of a single piloted air superiority fighter (Either a Su-57 or an F-35 Trident) escorted by a swarm of drones linked to the main plane. Red Navy Always the lesser of the armed forces, the Red Navy was virtually nonexistent before World War II and even during the war consisted mainly of cruisers, destroyers, antiquated battleships, and submarines, none of which saw notable action during the war aside from the destroyers. Afterwards, and to this day, the red navy has focused on lighter units, eschewing the use of aircraft carriers and relying heavily on its submarine fleet. Automation has also had an impact here, mainly in the form of small drone subs deployed from surface and subsurface combatants. Some larger vessels have also started deploying unmanned aerial drones. The Red Navy is notable for its widespread use of Ground Effect Vehicles, which see service as rapid response forces and transports, but are rarely found directly engaging in combat. Direct combat is typically handled by destroyers, or, should the situation demand it, a guided missile cruiser. Red Airfleet The newest branch of the soviet armed forces, but also arguably the most important at the moment, this branch operates the Il-104 and other similar aerial vessels, and thus originally drew its members from both the air force and navy. It also operates the USSR's sole spaceborne military vessel, and it is expected that as the cosmofleet expands the airfleet will be renamed to denote the more important of its duties. Bureau of Strategic Resource Utilization A joint bureau with both civilian and military members serving as part of it, with the purpose of providing oversight and control over the nuclear arsenal while remaining decentralized. The head of the bureau is always the chair of the presidium council. As of late, the deployment of metahumans in combat has also fallen under the purview of this body. Notable Vehicles * Ilyushin-104 airborne guided missile battlecruiser Notable Equipment * Ballistic weaponry * Electromagnetic ** Coilguns ** Coil assisted torpedo launchers ** Interception missile launchers. ** Electrostatic Defense System * Missiles ** Omni VLS systems ** ICBMs ** Nuclear missiles. ** Rocket Artilllery * Directed Energy Weapons ** Masers ** Lasers *** Ultraviolet *** Infrared *** X-ray ** Grasers ** Particle beams (currently in preliminary development) *** Charged Particle Beams (atmospheric only) *** Neutral Particle Beams (vacuum only) * Magitech Enhanced ** Ballistics *** MPR-443 Грач: A magitech enhanced pistol that can either take the overpressure 7N41R 9x19mm cartridge, or the less powerful NATO standard 9x19mm Parabellum rounds. Its enhancements are mainly concerned with enhancing it's use as a pistol, and thus focus on concealing itself and its wielder. *** PPR-19 Bizon: A compact magitech submachinegun that was designed for the same overpressure ammunition as the Грач, the Bizon was originally based on the Kalashnikov family of firearms and thus shares both parts and their tendency for extreme durability. The magitech variant, like most Soviet magitech, focuses on enhancing already existing purpose instead of adding additional function. Thus, its enhancements focus on reducing recoil, increasing the ammunition capacity and fire rate, and reducing it's weight. *** RMbR-93: A pump action 12 gauge magitech enhanced shotgun that rounds out the Soviet ballistic arsenal mainly as a short range less than lethal option, or as an intermediary between the AKR and the SVDR when loaded with significantly more lethal ammunition. Its enhancements focus on enhancing it's stopping power and allowing it to fire a wide variety of ammunition, or even fire compressed shockwaves should it be out of ammunition. *** AKR-107: A member of the venerable Kalashnikov line of assault rifles, the AKR-107 is an impressive improvement on the original, which still maintains the strengths that have made the line famous. Its magitech enhancements are likewise an improvement to those on the AKR-47, and these factors combined produce a rifle that is not only capable of utilizing virtually anything that will fit in its chamber as a bullet, but also one that is exceptionally durable, needs almost no maintenance at all, and actually requires none if it is kept within the red line of a Type-II often enough. *** SVDR-63 Dragunov: The Dragunov sniper rifle would be better classified as a marksman's rifle, as that is its intended purpose in Soviet doctrine. A relatively common long range squad support weapon, like a heavy machine gun, not a sniper to be used to eliminate a single target from two miles away. However, when the magitech variant was being created for use by the relatively few Type-IIs that serve in combat positions, it was decided to focus on narrowing the gap between the Dragunov and a dedicated sniper rifle like the Accuracy International AWM. Thus, most of the enhancements focus on improving the accuracy of the rifle to an incredible degree with a lesser, but significant, focus on improving the stopping power as well through increased muzzle velocity. Category:WIP Category:USSR